


You Do It For Him

by noodlerdoodler



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: M/M, Nico is reckless, Some blood??, he thinks he's hardcore but he's just a smol nerd, not much
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-20
Updated: 2015-10-20
Packaged: 2018-04-27 08:08:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5040706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noodlerdoodler/pseuds/noodlerdoodler
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em>"Nobody's ever defended my honour before." Will says, slowly, "It was..." Cute? "Well, thanks, anyway." </em>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	You Do It For Him

**Author's Note:**

> This has not been proofread, apologies for any mistakes.
> 
> Set whenever you like, idk man, idk.

By the time Will reaches the source of the yelling and whooping, there's a full-on fist fight going on just outside the dining hall. He arrives just in time to watch a small boy- not a younger boy, he looked about the same age as Will, but so much smaller and skinnier; the kid could be a ghost, as pallid and thin as he was- stumble backwards from a hit. Even from the outer edge of the gathering crowd, he can see that the fight is unfair.

It's three Ares kids- all of which vaguely resemble brick walls in the way they're built, if brick walls could have muscles- against that one kid that could be mistaken for a skeleton. To his credit, the smaller kid seems to be holding up pretty well on his own, getting a few punches in here and there. Will's considering breaking up the fight, when an irritated Clarisse does it first, yelling at her half-brothers about something or another. That's when Will catches his first glimpse of the kid's face as he backs away.

The crowd is dispersing, disappointed, and Will pushes his way forward to grab... What was his name again, di Angelo? That's the di Angelo kid, right? Nico di Angelo? Yeah, that sounds about right.

"C'mon. Let's get you to the infirmary."

Nico grunts, wiping the blood from his mouth on the back of his hand.

As pale as he is, Nico does seem to have some blood in those supposedly empty veins of his because it's dropping steadily from his mouth. And, though he doesn't let Will touch him, he does obligingly follow him to the infirmary. The whole time, he's trying to blot the blood falling from his mouth with the sleeve of his jacket.

In fact, Nico suddenly pauses outside the infirmary and it's to spit a mouthful of blood into the bushes.

"An offering for you, Lord Ares." He mutters sarcastically, "Thanks for making your kids violent and muscled."

Will bites his lip, so that he doesn't start laughing.

* * *

 "What you did was pretty dumb." Will informs him, "You shouldn't mess with the older campers, especially the Ares kids. They don't appreciate it and they could eat a shrimp like you for breakfast." Losing his stern expression for a moment, he lets out a chuckle.

The boy sitting in front of him doesn't so much as look at him, doesn't so much as flinch, doesn't so much as blink. If Will hadn't checked just to be sure, he would have been certain that Nico wasn't breathing either. He hasn't spoken a word since they came inside and Will congratulates him silently on being the surliest patient that he's ever had to deal with.

"You could have gotten yourself hurt." Will continues and he swears that Nico growls under his breath at him, "Well, more hurt than you already are."

Considering what he sees on average in the infirmary, a split lip and some blotchy bruises are very little to deal with. Will's just glad that the fight was broken up quickly or else, the Ares kids probably would have put Nico in the infirmary for a week at least. As he sticks a band-aid around Nico's finger, he wonders what the kid did to rile them. They don't normally punch unprovoked, the Ares kids, even if they will do it for the stupidest reasons.

"You're going to have to tread carefully for a while, Nico. They're probably baying for your blood."

There's a pause as the boy finally seems to stir, visibly inhaling, raking his left hand through his dark hair.

Half of Will wonders if it's the kid's natural hair colour because it's awfully dark.

The other half of him reminds him that he shouldn't be wasting time with thoughts like this and should check to see if Nico's lip has stopped bleeding. He takes Nico's right hand- the boy exhales heavily at his touch, a warning- and pulls it away from his mouth, so that he can inspect the damage. The steady flow of blood has come to a stop, finally.

"You know my name." Nico sounds surprised, reacting a little late.

"Why wouldn't I?"

"People don't, usually."

Will is half-tempted to point out that if Nico weren't so quiet and... Well, _angsty_ is the word to describe the reserved scowl on his face, he supposes, then perhaps people would feel more inclined to speak to him. He decides to keep his mouth shut, inspecting the bruises that are predominantly located on the left side of Nico's face. They are already indigo and sickly yellow against his pale skin and match up well to the dark shadows under his eyes.

"I think you'll live." Will decides, backing up and beginning to pack his medical kit away.

Nico stands, but he doesn't leave.

For a long moment, he says nothing.

Nico licks his lips. "You should know that I had a reason."

"Of course." Will says, forcing himself not to smile at him.

"They weren't..." Nico pauses, "They said some stupid stuff about you, Solace."

Will is unsurprised. "Oh?"

"Stupid stuff. Nothing important. But... You don't deserve to have people talk about you behind your back. You're a good guy."

Will does look at him this time and grins, "Nico, if I went around getting into fights with everybody that said something stupid... Well, camp wouldn't be such a friendly place. They were probably just kidding around. There's no need to take everything so seriously."

"Right. Yeah." Nico's face has gone slightly pink, Will swears it, "That makes sense." He rubs at his sore knuckles, unsurely. For the first time, he almost looks ashamed for planting his fist in some older kid's face. The Ares kids had towered over Nico, Will had no idea how he'd even been able to reach high enough to hit them.

Nico starts to shuffle towards the door.

"Hey."

"Huh?" Nico turns.

"Nobody's ever defended my honour before." Will says, slowly, "It was..." Cute? "Well, thanks, anyway."

Nico shrugs at him, almost smiling.

"Don't you dare do it again."

He swears that Nico is actually grinning as he leaves.


End file.
